And the verdict is....

still waiting.  Not that a whole lot of time has passed, but when there is a house on the line, it would be good to know!  How can you plan paint colors and carpets and where to finally hang our paintings if you don't know if the house is ours?

We put an offer in for a lower than the CV (that weird little "I-can't-tell-you-what-the-house-is-worth meter)...

THIS JUST IN...the agent just called and we...

didn't get it.  Well, now we know.  What we were going to say is that we put in a bid for less than the CV originally and then upped it with all our might when there was a second offer on the house.  The agent took our bid in a sealed enveloped and whisked away to a quick meeting with the other agents and the house sellers (called vendors here).  That was at 5:30 and we got the call two hours later to say that we were not successful.  There was an unexpected third offer at the last minute and I think it is the one that stole the show.  They put a three in front of their bid and ours couldn't do that.  Our bid was in the middle, however.  At least we weren't the poor country cousins with our bid, but we still didn't end up with the house.  Oh well!  We were pretty realistic about our offer and we really believe that if it were our house it would be meant to be.  If not, well, the search must go on.

So, here are the front runners at the start of the new search:

Port Chalmers:  http://www.realestate.co.nz/1525522.  Love, love LOVE this house.  It is my favorite of all time.  Warm, renovated to maintain the old charm and character, probably in our ball park as far as the price.  The drive to work is along the harbor with the hilly green peninsula in the background.  The drawback here is a seven mile commute each day.  Not a big deal in the US, but is in the sticks here.  With gas (petrol here ) at $8 something a gallon, that makes you think.  What are your thoughts?  What is a commute with kids?  A dog at home?  Would you do it?

Well, that's it, I guess.  That house sells at auction in three weeks, so any ideas you have, we are all ears.  

Back to the real estate websites.  We'll keep you posted.